In case you didn't know it, the City of Norman Council chambers is a No Clapping Zone. The gestapo lady, Mayour Cindy Rosenthal, has strictly forbidden the practice, under penalty of expulsion or perhaps arrest by armed, uniformed police officers. You can see the video of her declaration at normanok.gov. If someone finds and posts the direct link and time in the video, I will post it here.
Mayour Cindy Rosenthal has now decreed that city ward meetings will be No Question Zones as well. It seems she has ordered city police officers to attend all ward meetings, and to forcibly remove anyone who is deemed disruptive by attempting to ask questions. Meetings are now called "listening sessions", which mean you must listen while their rent-seeking socialistic sycophants spew Gaia worshipping news.
An elderly gentleman was just so removed this past Wednesday, October 19, 2011 (yes, the year 2011 A.D.) from the ward meeting at Monroe Elementary School, 1601 S. McGee Dr., Norman, Oklahoma for asking a question.
Call#:1423756, Date:10/19/2011 6:24:28PM, Address:1601 MCGEE DR, Nature:COP ACTIVITY
One council member later stated:
"People should be given the chance to ask questions. [His] second emphasis sounded more vocal and I'm sure that triggered the young policeman to act. This is not a dead issue. However, attitude when you ask a question is important. If you want more, come to Council on Tuesday."
Without a doubt, on Tuesday we are going to get a list of acceptable attitudes. The city council is going to purchase the very latest and best attitude monitoring equipment, and have it installed in the chamber. Portable attitude measuring devices will be attendant at all ward meetings.
If you are reading from afar, say New Jersey or Wisconsin, you might wonder what the concern is, why don't we just yell and scream till we get answers to our honest, legitimate, and benign questions. Well, you just have to live here awhile to understand. Most Okies are very polite people, and are generally loving and kind, and don't wish to offend anyone. They prefer to go about their own business, and not mettle in anyone else's. Unless they are commie pinko earth worshipping hippie wanna-bes.
According to James Griffith, councilman for ward 6, Lochner was hired to run our meetings "because they are the expert". End of discussion.
Lochner was, no doubt, paid out of the street sweeper fund. In August 2011, Norman let expire it's membership in the Oklahoma Municipal League (OML), another un-elected, non-governmental organization of dictators, and for which Rosenthal was a high-rank official. The city saves $73,000 annually.
From the Norman Transcript:
"Public Works Director Shawn O’Leary said his department is grateful to have the money, but that it must now figure out the best way to use it.
Buying a new street sweeper is out of the question — they cost more than $200,000, O’Leary said.
Options include paying a contractor to do the job, but that could cost about $6,500 a week for a truck and operator. Plus, using a contractor would only buy 10-11 weeks of sweeping, O’Leary said.
“That’s awfully expensive,” he said. “But it is something we can do.”
Have you seen $73,000 worth of street sweeping going on?
Instead, Rosenthal and O'Leary teamed up to pay Lochner $30,000 to run our ward meetings and cast out dissenters.